Bournemouth have qualified for European football for the first time in the club’s history. Sunderland, promoted just 12 months ago, will join them in the Europa League.
Chelsea, meanwhile, collapsed to 10th place and will play no European football next season.
The Premier League final day delivered chaos, joy and heartbreak in equal measure.
Cherries end unbeaten run with Europa ticket
Bournemouth secured sixth place and a Europa League spot with a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest. Morgan Gibbs-White opened the scoring for Forest in the 34th minute. Marcus Tavernier equalised nine minutes after the break with a fierce finish.
The result extended Bournemouth’s remarkable unbeaten league run to 18 matches. Andoni Iraola, in his final match as Cherries manager, admitted he came close to tears. “I am feeling so happy right now, so, so happy. I have been really close to tears. I think it is the perfect ending,” he told BBC Match of the Day.
Bournemouth finished with 57 points, a record for the club. They will enter the Europa League directly at the league phase.
Sunderland complete impossible rise
The Black Cats, tipped for relegation at the start of the season, beat Chelsea 2-1 at the Stadium of Light to leapfrog into seventh place.
Trai Hume volleyed home the opener in the 25th minute. Malo Gusto sliced into his own net five minutes after the restart. Cole Palmer pulled one back for Chelsea, but Wesley Fofana received a second yellow card just six minutes later, leaving the visitors with 10 men for the final half-hour.
Victory lifted Sunderland from eighth to seventh. They became only the fifth side in Premier League history to qualify for Europe in their first season after promotion. Manager Regis Le Bris called it “an important step” for the club.
“It shows that anything is possible in football, especially when you are working hard, representing the community, you are humble,” Le Bris said.
Como make Champions League history
In Italy, Como have qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their 119-year history. Cesc Fabregas’s side secured a top-four finish in Serie A on the final day, booking a place among Europe’s elite.
Como, playing in Serie A for only the second season after promotion, have completed one of the most stunning rises in Italian football history.
Chelsea fall from grace
Chelsea’s disastrous campaign ended in humiliation. The Blues needed a win to keep their European hopes alive. Instead, they lost to Sunderland, dropped to 10th place, and finished one point outside the European places.
The defeat was Chelsea’s 14th of the league season. They have now gone from world champions to a mid-table team without any European football in the space of four years.
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Interim manager Calum McFarlane watched his side struggle for creativity and defensive organisation. Wesley Fofana’s red card summed up a season of indiscipline and collapse.
Xabi Alonso will take over a squad lacking confidence and European football. The rebuild begins from the ruins.
A final day to remember
Arsenal sealed the Premier League title on 85 points, three ahead of Manchester City. Liverpool scraped fifth place with a 1-1 draw at home to Brentford. Manchester United and Aston Villa secured the other Champions League spots.
For Bournemouth and Sunderland, the celebrations will last all summer. For Chelsea, the inquest begins immediately.
